Just when the New York Yankees thought they were starting to get healthier, they got another bad break. Once again, outfielder Curtis Granderson broke a bone in his hand, this time his left one. Granderson had just returned after missing the first 38 games of the season because of a broken hand he received during his first plate appearance in spring training on February 24.

Tonight, Granderson once again had a fastball ride inside on him from a left-handed pitcher, and couldn’t get his hands out of the way. The pitch hit his left pinkie as he held onto the bat, and Granderson immediately showed signs of discomfort.

He did stay in the game however, eventually scoring on a bases-loaded walk later in the inning. After scoring, Granderson went for X-rays and received the bad news.

Initial reports indicate Granderson could miss four weeks, but teammate Alex Rodriguez had the same injury last season and ended up missing 36 games. Regardless, it is a terrible break for a guy who was just coming back and starting to get back into rhythm at the plate. In his last game at the Baltimore Orioles, he nearly hit for the cycle, ending up just a triple shy of the feat.

The Yankees are fortunate to have three experienced outfielders on the roster in Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Gardner, and VernonWells, but they had much more depth with Granderson in the line-up, allowing them to rest one of the other veteran outfielders.

It’s been a strange confluence of events that has hit the Yankees this year, but as we all know, they still sit atop the AL East.

The difference between Matt Carpenter the leadoff man and Carpenter in any other spot in the order has been huge this season. As they enter the stretch run, St. Louis should keep batting him leadoff. Read More